Blackout
by Nuclear Winter
Summary: After the Tower shuts down and all communications are lost, a series of strange events threaten to tear the team apart.


Disclaimer- I don't own the Teen Titans. Yet.

**Blackout**  
Chapter 1

* * *

Robin seized the blue flag and began running back to the red base. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed a large humvee-like vehicle barreling toward him. Starfire was driving it and Beast boy was at the controls of a machine gun mounted in the rear. Luckily, Beast boy had rather poor aim. As the gap between him and the vehicle swiftly closed, the shear volume of lead in the air began to wear down the energy shields on his ultra-advanced suit of armor. In a few seconds, he would die and the blue flag would be returned.

* * *

Cyborg shouldered his rocket launcher and sighted his target. It was a difficult shot from his position on the ridge some distance away, so he brought the weapon's scope up to his eye. He led the vehicle with the targeting reticule and opened fire. The shaped charge connected with the front of the vehicle and exploded, killing Starfire and throwing Beast boy from his perch. _Booyah_. The vehicle went tumbling through the air and narrowly avoided hitting Robin. Beast boy, after regaining his footing, began to unload his shotgun at Robin, who, while holding the flag, was unable to return fire. Cyborg quickly switched to his sniper's rifle. His keen sight and steady hand sent a 14.5mm armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot round through Beastboy's head and out the other side. The lifeless body spun in a macabre pirouette and fell limp to the ground. Starfire had, by this point, regained a position atop the blue base and was surveying the battlefield through the scope of _her_ rifle. Unfortunately, she was positioned behind the housing of a transporter and Cyborg didn't have a clear shot, but several low hills that stood in the center of the map shielded Robin from her. There was nothing stopping Robin's progress now, and victory was assured. 

Suddenly, the screen went blank.

* * *

"Aw man, I was just about to win too," Beastboy whined.

"I don't know what game you were playing," Cyborg replyed, "'cause the Beast boy in this one was getting owned."

Starfire stared at the screen, a look of bewilderment on her face. "What has happened? Is this part of the game?"

"No, it's just a power failure, nothing to worry about," Robin responded.

Starfire's face lit up with excitement, "I once saw this on TV! I shall retrieve the flashlights and candles!"

"Starfire, I hate to disappoint you, but it's the middle of the day," Robin said.

"But are alternative forms of illumination not what make a power outage fun?"

Beastboy smiled. "Actually, in real life they aren't all that much fun. Usually you just sit around doing nothing for a while and then spend several hours trying to reset the clock on the VCR."

"That's because you're stupid," Cyborg said. "It's not that hard to figure out. Anyway, something's not right. The emergency generators should have started up to power all of the Tower's vital systems."

Robin looked at Cyborg quizzically. "The game station's _vital_?"

"Yes, it is! And if I don't get it back soon my foot may just get lodged in one of _your _vital systems!"

"Hey! I'm just looking out for the city's-"

Beast boy morphed into an elephant and trumpeted a deafening blast before returning to his normal form. "I'm not usually one to bring logic to a situation, but maybe we should look around. It could be a bad guy trying to sabotage us." Robin hated to admit it to himself, but the changeling was right.

The small group of teenage superheroes moved through their common room toward the front door of the tower. Oddly, it did not automatically open as they approached, and yielded not a centimeter to Cyborg's "persuasion" that began with pushing, turned into hitting and kicking, and eventually escalated to sonic blasts and curses delivered at the maximum possible volume. His frustration was actually rather amusing in a perverse sort of way.

"Maybe you should just try asking nicely," Beast boy quipped.

Starfire levitated toward the portal. "Oh, kind, beautiful, door, please open and allow my friends and I passage." Her arms spread wide across the frame in a hug. Suddenly, the door remained firmly shut.

Robin shot Beast boy a look that could have killed a rabid water buffalo at twenty paces. "Starfire, he was joking."

"Are not jokes supposed to be humorous?"

"B never really got a hang of that part," Cyborg said.

Robin realized that something needed to be done, so he assumed his role as leader of the group and began issuing orders. "Titans: Fan out. I want every door, window and heating duct checked. We need to know if we're trapped in here. Meet up in the common room in fifteen minutes.

* * *

Cyborg, Robin, Beastboy, and Starfire were arrayed in various seats in the common room. The leader reviewed the situation: "We have no power, apparently our communicators don't work, all the doors and windows are locked, and we can't break out because Cyborg got a little overzealous and reinforced everything to withstand a nuclear blast from the _inside_." 

Cyborg stood up from his seat on the couch. "Hey! It could happen."

"No, Cyborg. No it couldn't."

"Oh yeah, how 'bout a xinotheum explosion?" Cyborg countered.

Robin's hand twitched toward the collapsed bo at his belt. "That was one mistake. I'll always regret it, but bringing it up now isn't going to help _this_ situation, is it?"

Robin hadn't realized that he stood, but Starfire pushed him away from Cyborg and into a chair. She was gentle, but there would be no resisting her alien strength. "Friends, let us concentrate on the problem, yes? Could someone have done the hacking on our tower?"

"No, the encryption I use would take months of concerted effort to break." The aggression drained from Cyborg and he reseated himself. "None of the villains we've faced are that determined. None of them have actually been inside the Tower for months, either. I should have detected any bugs left here by now. I don't really know what could have caused this. It's possible that the generators could have broken at the same time that the city lost power, but that still wouldn't explain why we can't leave."

"We have sufficient foodstuffs, yes?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah, our emergency stores could last weeks if we needed them to." Robin answered.

"Then I see no reason why we cannot wait and see if our dilemma resolves itself," she responded. "Is that not what one usually does during a power outage?"

She had a good point, but Beast boy made a better one. "You know, guys, there is one other explanation for this."

* * *

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